Acquitted War Crimes Suspect Radic Demands Compensation

A former Yugoslav army captain acquitted of war crimes by a United Nations tribunal is demanding compensation.

Miroslav Radic is seeking nearly $700,000 from Serbia for his more than four-and-a-half years of detention. He made his demands in a Belgrade municipal courtroom Wednesday, at the start of a hearing on his claim.

Radic was acquitted two years ago in The Hague of responsibility for the 1991 killings of about 200 Croat prisoners of war.

Serbian officials say the country should not be held liable because Radic's trial was held elsewhere.

In another development, a Serbian official, Rasim Ljajic, tracking war crimes suspects says he is optimistic that fugitive Ratko Mladic will be arrested in spite of his "masterful" efforts to hide.

Authorities believe Mladic, a fugitive since 1995, is hiding in Serbia.

He is charged with genocide for allegedly orchestrating a massacre of thousands of Muslims in a Bosnian enclave in the early 1990s.